Information Security Director

The Information Security Director is the organization's senior executive accountable for the strategy, governance, and execution of the organization's information security program. He defines and drives the security architecture, oversees incident response and risk management, sets and enforces security policy, owns the security budget, and builds a culture of security awareness across the organization. This role balances executive-level risk communication with the technical depth needed to guide security design, identity and access management, data protection, and threat monitoring (SIEM/SOC) decisions. He partners closely with IT leadership, legal, compliance, and business units to ensure security enables — rather than obstructs — the organization's objectives. Key Responsibilities Cybersecurity Leadership Own the organization's overall security posture, including threat detection, incident response, vulnerability management, and endpoint/identity protection. Direct security monitoring and incident investigation (e.g., EDR/SIEM alert triage, threat hunting, and formal incident reporting) and lead response to active threats. Define and maintain security architecture standards across cloud (Azure, GCP), including network segmentation, firewall/NGFW policy, and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA). Establish and enforce security policies covering access control, data protection, endpoint management, and acceptable use. Team Leadership Build, lead, and develop the information security team, including hiring, coaching, performance management, and succession planning. Set clear priorities, objectives, and accountability structures for security architects, analysts, IAM/GRC leads, and other direct reports. Foster a collaborative, high-performing team culture and support ongoing professional development and certification. Manage team workload and resources to ensure adequate coverage for monitoring, incident response, and project delivery. Security Strategy, Design & Implementation Define and own the organization’s security architecture and strategy. Lead the design and implementation of security controls for networks, endpoints, applications, and cloud workloads, including secure-by-design reviews for new projects and technologies. Set technical standards for security tooling selection, deployment, and integration, ensuring coverage across the full technology stack. Evaluate emerging threats and technologies, adjusting the security roadmap to address new attack surfaces (cloud, AI, remote work, etc.). Security Incident Management Own the security incident response program end-to-end: detection, triage, containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident review. Establish and maintain the incident response plan, playbooks, and escalation procedures, and lead the response to major security incidents and breaches. Coordinate with legal, communications, and executive leadership on breach notification obligations and external disclosure requirements. Drive continuous improvement of detection and response capabilities based on lessons learned, tabletop exercises, and threat intelligence. Security Policies & Governance Develop, maintain, and enforce organization information security policies, standards, and procedures (access control, acceptable use, data classification, incident response, vendor security, etc.). Ensure policies remain aligned with applicable regulatory and contractual requirements and are reviewed on a regular cadence. Establish governance structures (security steering committee, policy exception processes) to ensure accountable, auditable decision-making. Represent security in client, partner, and regulatory due-diligence engagements, including security questionnaires and audits. Act as the primary liaison with internal and external auditors, coordinating audit scope, evidence collection, and remediation of findings across security and compliance audits. Risk Management Own the organization security risk management program, including risk identification, assessment, treatment, and reporting. Maintain the organization's risk register and ensure risk treatment plans have clear ownership, timelines, and executive visibility. Report on the organization's security risk posture to executive leadership and the board on a regular basis, using clear, business-relevant metrics. Security Budget & Resource Management Own and manage the organization security budget, including forecasting, prioritization, and return-on-investment analysis for security initiatives. Build the business case for security investments, balancing risk reduction against cost and operational impact.